Lion Ark is an independently made documentary about an incredible rescue and is a very dramatic record of events that made history. We believe this film is important on so many levels. It tackles serious animal protection issues but it is a joyous story. It is an empowering story and shows how it takes just a small group of people to come together to make a difference and change the world. It reveals just what it takes to secure and enforce laws. You also get to meet 25 magnificent lions and see their different characters – the real stars of Lion Ark.

The animals from Bolivia’s circuses have been saved but others need our urgent help.

Peru banned the use of wild animals in circuses two years ago, and Animal Defenders International – the force behind the Bolivian rescue mission and Lion Ark – is pressing for the law to be enforced.

Once regulations are in place, ADI can step in and rescue the country’s circus animals.

The ban was secured following an ADI investigation and campaign which, like Bolivia, exposed circus brutality and animals kept in deprived and appalling conditions.

While ADI presses for the ban to be enforced, it has been tracking down circuses and documenting violations of the law during which its team has been subjected to physical abuse, including an attack which left a field officer in Peru with a broken leg after being attacked by circus workers. The ADI team in South American refuse to be intimated and the census of wild animals in circuses continues.

Funds are urgently needed to ensure that the ban in Peru is enforced and to undertake the rescue and relocation of the animals in what could be the biggest and most challenging rescue operation yet.